"Rasp" by Maggie Smith

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend July 13, 2017   Rasp   Maggie Smith

The heat rises in distorted gold              waves around fire                           but without fire,              shimmering, twisting   anything seen through it.              The heat rises, rasping                           the air it rises through,              scuffing the surface,   if the air has a surface.              The tall summer                           field is the keeper              of secrets. Lie down   and forget your body, forgive              your body its bad cradle,                           its brokenness.              Lie down and listen   to the rasp, to heat sweep              the pale, dry grass as if                           it were your own              breathing, as if the field   you've pressed your shape into              is a broom in reverse,                           a broom being              swept by the wind.            Copyright © 2017 Maggie Smith. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "'Rasp' began as an attempt to articulate a sensory experience: the combination of the blur of heat in the air and the sound of wind moving through—across?—tall, dry grass. As I wrote, it struck me that the dry summer fields are broom-like, the grass wheat-colored and papery, so there's a play on the idea of 'windswept.' The air seems to have so much body and texture in the heat, as if it has a surface that can be seen, felt, even broken." —Maggie Smith   Maggie Smith is the author of Good Bones, forthcoming in September from Tupelo Press. She lives and writes in Bexley, Ohio. Poetry by Smith   Good Bones (Tupelo Press, 2017) "Classic Ballroom Dances" by Charles Simic "Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve" by Anne Boyer "badlands: a song of flux, out of time" by Lee Ann Roripaugh Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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